Radio aerial for use on vehicles



1949 c. M. CARINGTON ETAL 2,491,713

RADIO AERIAL FOR USE ON VEHICLES Filed Oct. 15, 1947 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 ll5% I ll E 1 51 1 1% 56515 INVENTORS CHARLES MQLYNEUXCARINGTON GEORGE WnLIAM SHOOBERT A WALTER JONATHAN PICKETT Dec. 20, 1949 c. M. CARINGTONETAL ,4

' RADIO AERIAL FOR USE ON VEHICLES Filed Oct. 15, 1947 2 Sheets-Sheet 2CHARLES MOLYNEUX CARINGTON GEORGE WILLIAM SHOOBERT a WA TER JONATHANPICKETT 21%. W WM? Patented Dec. 20, 1949 RADIO AERIAL Fifi USE ONVEHICLES Charles Melyneux Earington, George William Shoobcrt, and WalterJonathan Pickett, London, England, assignors to K. L. G. Sparking PlugsLimited, London, England, a British comp any Application October 13,1947, Serial No. 779,507 In Great Britain dune 25, 1946 This inventionrelates to radio aerials for use on vehicles and has for its object toprovide an improved construction whereby the making of the electricalconnections with it is facilitated, the mounting on or attachment to thevehicle is also facilitated, and the aerial can be readily adjusted toan extended or receiving position or swung down into a stored position.

According to the present invention a radio aerial assemblage for a motorvehicle comprises an insulating base on which the aerial is mounted. andwhich constitutes the attachment to the vehicle, a pair of electricalterminals mounted on the base, an electrical connection from one of saidterminals to the aerial and a second electrical connection from theother terminal adapted to engage the body of the vehicle.

Preferably the insulating base is formed with a socket, and saidterminals have each a spring finger extending across said socket to makeelectrical connection with the core and sheathing respectively Of ascreened cable inserted in the socket.

According to another feature of this invention a radio aerial assemblageas above set forth is used in combination with a screened cable having ametal ferrule on the sheathing to be engaged by one of said springfingers, and a nipple on the core to be engaged by the other of saidspring fingers. The nipple may be formed with a shoulder to be engagedby a spring finger and to be retained thereby in the socket.

The invention also concerns other novel fea tures in the mechanicalconstruction and arrangement of the assemblage, and of the mounting ofthe aerial rod on the assemblage by a resiliently controlled joint whichpermits displacement of the aerial in the event of it fouling, say, agarage roof, without damage.

In the accompanying drawings which illustrate one embodiment of thisinvention,

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the assemblage, partly in section,

Figure 2 is a plan of Figure 1,

Figure 3 is an elevation in central section to a larger scale, and

Figure 4 is a sectional view on the line 44 of Figure 3.

In the construction illustrated, the aerial assemblage is mounted on ametal panel of a vehicle indicated at It in Figures 1, 2 and 3. A holeis made in the panel to receive a block of insulating material H whichlies mainly on one side of the panel It, but has an extension-piece l2passing through the hole and engaging a sec- 2 Claims. (Cl. 250-33) ndblock of insulating material !3. These two clocks have coaxial bores andare mounted on a sleeve M which is screw-threaded at one end [5 and hasa disc-like member l6 secured on its other end. A nut I! when screwed onto the sleeve I4 clamps the two blocks H and 13 on to the panel ill andthereby secures them rigidly thereon. A soft packing member I8 may beinterposed between the block II and the panel to lo assist in making aweathertight joint on the outer side of the panel.

A shaft 59 extends through the sleeve [4 and is rotatable therein, andon the outer end 2c of this shaft there is secured on it an aerial rodwhich extends radially from the shaft. A metal block 2! is secured onthe end of the shaft and is formed with a recess 22 to receive a conicalmember 25 which is formed with an annular seating it which is ofsubstantially circular cross-section. A tubular member 25 is formed witha cooperating seating to engage the annular seating 26, and it isresiliently held in engagement therewith by means of a spring 25 whichpresses it thereon. The spring is seated at one end on an internalshoulder 21, and at its other end on a block 28 which is slidable withinthe tube 25 but is anchored to the portion 23 by a flexible steel cable29. With this construction 1 the tube 25 is normally held firmly inengagement with the seating 24, but it can be displaced by rocking onthe seating against the compression of the spring 26. At the upper endof the tube 25 there is mounted an extension tube 30 (see Figure 1) andthis latter contains a tele scopically adjustable rod 3! which isfrictionally retained in an extended or retracted position by a suitableshaping of its inner end 32.

The part 23 is locked in the part 2| by a retaining screw 33 (see Figure3), and there are also mounted on this part two locating studs 35 whichare adapted to engage teeth 35 formed on the member it so as to retainthe shaft, and therefore the aerial rod in. any angular position towhich it may be adjusted, in particular an extended or receivingposition or in a stored position. In order to permit disengagement ofthe studs 34 from the teeth 35, the shaft Iii is movable axially againstthe action of a spring 36 (see Figures 1 and 2) located between the nutll and a bush 3'! secured on the shaft and carryingahandle 0r knob 38 bywhich the shaft can be moved endwise and rotated.

The aerial rod including the parts 25, 23 and 2! are all made of metaland are mounted on the metal shaft [9 so that they are electricallyconnected together, and the electrical connection from the aerial to thelead-in wire is effected in the following manner as shown particularlyin Figures 2 and 4. The lead-in wire is constituted by a screened cablecomprising a central core or conductor 39 surrounded by insulation isand an outer sheath 4! or a screen of braided metal wire. There may alsobe an outside insulating covering 42 around the metal sheath. To reducethe electrical capacity between the conductor 39 and the sheath M, theconductor is made of very small diameter, preferabl being so line thatit cannot be conveniently attached to a screw terminal in the ordinaryway. It is therefore secured at its end in a nipple 53 (see Figure 4)which is an inwardly directed shoulder M and this end is mounted in aninsulating tube 55. In order to provide good electrical contact with themetal sheath 4!, this is opened out over a metal tube 45 and a ferrule46 is provided around it, the sheath 4| preferably being soldered to theparts 45 and it, and these parts are also se cured to the insulatingtube 56 so that the end of the cable provides two exposed contacts,namely the nipple 43 and the ferrule which. are spaced apartlongitudinally on it. The insulating block 53 is provided as shown inFigure 2 with two slots 4?, 18 and in the slot il there is located aspring finger 49 to engage the nipple 43 at the shoulder 44. It therebymakes electrical contact therewith and prevents the cable from beingwithdrawn until the spring finger is depressed clear of the shoulder.This spring linger 4! is formed integrally with a washer El (see Figures2 and 3), the washer 5i being clam ed between the insulating block i3and a metal washer 52 by the nut i'i so that electrical conneotion isprovided from the aerial rod through the shaft i9, sleeve 55, washer 5iand finger 49 to the conductor 39 of the lead-in wire.

The slot 38 receives a similar spring finger which engages the ferruleit, and is formed integrally with a washer 54% (see Figure 3) which isclamped between the block 13 and the panel it so as to make electricalcontact with the panel, thereby providing an earth connection to thevehicle as a whole.

It will'be seen that the above construction provides an aerial rod ormast which can be adjusted to an upright position for receiving, orswung down into a stored position when not in use. In the event of theaerial mast fouling an obstruction when erected, it can rock on itsannular seating thereby avoiding damage to the mast; but such rockingmovement compresses the spring 26 so that the mast returns automaticallyto its proper position when freed from the obstruction. Furthermore theelectrical connections to the aerial are made simply by inserting thescreened lid into engagement with the two spring fingers andrespectively. It can be disengaged therefrom simply by depressing thespring finger. Finall the whose assemblage is readily secured in placeon the vehicle since it is necessary only to make the necessary hole inthe panel to and clean the surface thereof so that the Washer 55 canmake electrical contact with it. The slc e with the block ii and packingIt on it is inserted in place and the block [3 is then threaded on thesleeve and the nut il screwed up to mount the whole assemblage securelyin place.

We claim:

1. A radio aerial assemblage for a vehicle comprising in combination ametal sleeve screwthreaded at one end and provided with a radialshoullder at its other end, an insulating block on said sleeve locatedagainst said shoulder, a second insulating block on said sleeve formedwith parallel axially extending slots and with a transverse bore openinginto said slots, a metal washer between said insulating blocks, aspringfinger on said washer extending along one of said slots across thesaid transverse bore, a second spring-finger in the other of said slotsextending from the said transverse bore to the other end of said secondinsulating block, a second metal washer on said sleeve in electricalconnection with said second finger, a nut screwed on said sleeve andengaging said second washer, a single-core insulated cable, a metalscreening sheath thereon, a nipple secured on the end of the core ofsaid cable, a metal ferrule secured on said sheath, an insulating tubeseparating said ferrule and said nipple, said cable-end being adapted toenter said transverse bore and effect engagement of said ferrule withone of said spring fingers of said nipple with the other of saidspring-fingers, a shaft rotatable in said sleeve, means for locking saidshaft in any of a plurality of angular settings and an aerial rodsecured on said shaft and extending laterally therefrom.

2'. A radio aerial assemblage for a motor vehicle comprising incombination an insulating base adapted to be mounted in a panel of thevehicle, a metallic elbow member mounted on said insulating base by athreaded member passing through said. base, first engaging means formedon said elbow member, an elongated hollow metallic member, secondengaging means on said elongated hollow metallic member, said firstsecond engaging means being adapted to engage each other and whenengaged to support the elongated hollow metallic member with its axissubstantially at right angles to the axis of the threaded member,resilient means within said elongated hollow metallic member and aflexible cable attached at one end to the aforesaid elbow member and atthe other end to the aforesaid resilient means, whereby said cable andsaid resilient means strain the aforesaid first and second engagingmeans to remain in engagement.

CHARLES MO-LYNEUX CARINGTON. GEORGE WILLIAM .SHOOBERT. WALTER JONATHANPICKETT.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the

